Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wins a second three-year term [View all]
Source: AP
Updated 7:48 AM EDT, May 3, 2025
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has become the first Australian prime minister to win a second consecutive three-year term in 21 years. Opposition leader Peter Dutton conceded defeat in Saturday’s election, saying, “We didn’t do well enough during this campaign, that much is obvious tonight, and I accept full responsibility for that.”
“Earlier on, I called the prime minister to congratulate him on his success tonight. It’s an historic occasion for the Labor Party and we recognise that,” he added.
The Australian Electoral Commission’s projections gave Albanese’s ruling center-left Labor Party 70 seats and the conservative opposition coalition 24 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, the lower chamber where parties need a majority to form governments. Unaligned minor parties and independent candidates appeared likely to win 13 seats.
Australian Broadcasting Corp. respected election analyst Antony Green predicted Labor would win 76 seats, the coalition 36 and unaligned lawmakers 13. Green said Labor would form a majority or minority government and that the coalition had no hope of forming even a minority government. Energy policy and inflation have been major issues in the campaign, with both sides agreeing the country faces a cost of living crisis.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/australia-election-albanese-dutton-251063e866513dfa48b773fb4d6b0d29
Updated source.
Original article/headline/link -
May 3, 2025 at 7:04 a.m. EDT
SYDNEY -- Australia's center-left government was expected to win reelection Saturday in a remarkable turnaround driven partly by anger over President Donald Trump's disruptive trade war and its impact on the close U.S. military ally.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was projected to secure a second term, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, completing a stunning comeback for the Labor Party leader, who trailed in the polls two months ago. With about 30 percent of votes counted, however, it was still unclear whether the Labor Party would be able to govern outright or if it would need to partner with a smaller party or independents.
Trump's tariffs -- first 25 percent on Australia's aluminum and steel, then 10 percent across the board -- had driven voters toward the even-keeled incumbent and away from his conservative opponent, Peter Dutton, whose policies and rhetoric have echoed the American president, said Sean Kelly, a political columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald.
"Trump has absolutely dominated the trajectory of this election," Kelly said, adding that the global uncertainty unleashed by Trump had made "Albanese's boringness quite an appealing commodity."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/05/03/australia-labor-albanese-trump-election/
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